Twitter Was Not Sure How To Feel About The World Cup Song

On Friday 9 June, just days before the 2018 FIFA World Cup is due to kick off in Russia, Nicky Jam and Will Smith released the music video to accompany their song, Live It Up which featured Era Istrefi. It’s the official song of the 2018 World Cup and is supposedly serves as a ode to the sport of football. However, the fan responses to the video were mixed. The Daily Vox rounds up.

The video and song which has distinctly South American vibes, features American DJ Diplo, Puerto Rico-born Reggaeton artist Nicky Jam, singer Era Istrefi, and American actor and rapper Will Smith. There is also a special guest appearance in the form of Brazilian star, Ronaldinho who does a few tricks on screen and shows why he remains one of the greatest footballers of all time. The video features scenes from previous World Cups with fans celebrating the beauty of the game as well as children playing football in various parts of the world. The video in fact opens with the quote “Where there is unity, there is always victory.” by Publilius Syrus, a Latin writer.

While nothing can ever beat the brilliance that was the 2010 World Cup song, Waka Waka, we were a little excited to see a song that would feature Will Smith, who might not be the best rapper out there but seriously he is Will Smith! However, on the Twitter streets, people were not very impressed.

Many acknowledged the superiority of Waka Waka and even the 2010 Coca-Cola song Wavin’ flag by K’naan.

They seem to be getting progressively worse….Imma go listen to Wavin Flag and Waka waka now

Fatima is one of the The Daily Vox’s Jozi journos. She still hasn’t figured out her beat but loves writing about anything from women in sport, mining in SA and destroying popular opinions about pop culture characters.